Etymologically
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criticize

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkɹɪtɪsaɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English critic + -ize,[2][3][4][5] or, as the OED also allows, from the Latin source of critic with the same suffix;[2] the Shorter Oxford forms it like criticism.[6] The noun critic comes through French critique from criticus (“a judge, censor, critic”),[3] from Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós, “able to judge”),[3][7][2] from κριτής (kritḗs, “judge”),[7] from κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, decide, judge”),[7][3][8] from Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sieve”).[3] Klein relates the Greek verb to cernō (“to sift, distinguish, decide”).[7][8] An earlier verb critic, from critiquer, is recorded from about 1600.[3][2] The OED notes that one early spelling suggests a pronunciation with a /k/ before the suffix.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pass judgement, especially an unfavourable one; to find fault: 1621, in Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.[2] Etymonline, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1640s, with 1643 as Merriam-Webster's first known use.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb had two sides: judging unfavourably and, in Burton's criticize on or upon, analysing and commenting on a text, a construction obsolete after 1867.[2] It became transitive in 1652, in Urquhart, to censure a person or thing,[2] and in 1660 to analyse and evaluate a literary or other work.[2][3] Etymonline dates the sense "to censure, point out defects" to 1704,[3] and notes that the noun critic always carried overtones of a fault-finder.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1600 – the earlier verb critic.[3]
  • 1621 – intransitive, to pass judgement, find fault.[2] Also criticize on, to comment on a text.[2]
  • 1643 – first known use in Merriam-Webster.[4]
  • 1652 – transitive, to censure.[2]
  • 1660 – transitive, to analyse and evaluate a work.[2][3]
  • 1704 – to point out faults in, in Etymonline.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To point out the faults of someone or something; to censure or find fault with: The council was criticized for the delay.[9][4][2]
  2. To judge the good and bad qualities of a work and comment on them; to evaluate or analyse: She criticized her students' essays in detail.[9][4][2]
  3. To find fault, or to act as a critic, without an object: He does nothing but criticize.[4][2]

Word family

  • criticizable
  • criticizer
  • criticizingly
  • uncriticized
  • overcriticize
  • recriticize
  • uncriticizing

Usage notes

The spelling criticise is also used in British English.[9][4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins